Automobile body heater



April 4, 1939. E. LUDLOW ET AL 2,153,120

AUTOMOBILE BODY HEATER Filed May 24, 193'? ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 4, 1939 UNITED kSTATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE BODY HEATER Application May 24, 1937, Serial No. 144,453 claims. (ci. 257-137) Our invention relates to automobile-body` heaters of the circulating-huid type, and it is our object to produce a heater of novel form which will take up little room when installed and which will provide separate, independently controllable streams of hot air which Will be directed toward different parts of the automobile body'for diiierent specic purposes.

In carrying out our invention we employ a heater -core which is 4generally Semicircular in horizontal plan and which embodies a plurality of liquid passages with which there are associated heat-radiating iins defining generally radial-air passages. 'I'his core is mounted in a suitable shell or housing which may be attached to the dash of the automobile with the open side of the semicircular cre directed toward the dash. Within the core we mount an electric motor disposed with its axis vertical, and we employ the motor to drive air-impelling means which draws air into the housing through openings in the top and bottom walls thereof and forces such air radially outwardly through the semicircular core. In openings in the frontA and side walls of the housing we provide adjustable closures which can be independently adjusted to control a plurality of separate streams of hot air. In the case of a heater mounted'on the dash, for which installation our heater is especially suited, such separate streams of heated air may include one or more directed rearwardly for heating the interior of the automobile body generally and one or more directed laterally and downwardly toward thefeet 'of occupants of the front seat. In addition, the top wall of the housing, desirably near the dash, may be provided with outlet ttings for the attachment of conduits leading to defroster nozzles disposed adjacent the automobile Windshield.

The accompanying drawing illustrates our invention: Fig. 1 is a horizontal plan View of the heater with parts of the top and side walls broken away to illustrate the interior construction; Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical sections on the lines 2-2 and 3-3 respectively of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a smallscale view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating a modified construction.

The heater illustrated in the drawing comprises a core built up of a series of vertically spaced, semicircular tubes IU with which there are associated heat-radiating fins II defining a multiplieity-of generally -radially extending air passages. 'I'he adjacent ends of the tubes are interconnected by short lengths of tubing which in effect i'orm headers I2. The ends of theA core thus built up are connected respectively to an inlet Within the interior of the core we mount an electric motor 25 disposed with its axis vertical 'and conveniently supported from the rear wall I8 of the heater-housing by a suitable clamp bracket 25. The motor 25 is employed to drive air-impelling means, shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as fans 21 and 28 mounted respectively on the upper and lower ends of the shaft of the motor 25. In line with the fans 2'I and 28 the top and bottom walls of the casing are provided with air-inlet openings with which there are desirably associated suitable grills 23 serving as a protection forthe fans.

In one or both side walls 2l of the housing we provide openings having adjustable closures, desirably in the form of doors 3l each mounted for swinging movement about a horizontal axis disposed near its top so that it can swing from the normally closed position, illustrated in full lines in Fig. 3, to an oblique position in which it will direct air flowing past it laterally and downwardly toward the feet of an occupant of the front seat. For controlling the main discharge of air from the heater, doors 33 are provided in the irontvwall,` such doors conveniently being hinged on vertical axes near their inner ends, as indicated at 3l.

Near each rear corner of the upper wall I6 of the housing'we provide a nipple 36 adapted for attachment to a conduit leading to a windshielddefroster. To increase the quantity of air discharged through the nipples 3G when either or both of the doors 33 are open, we may provide within the housing generally radially extending partitions 38 each of which extends between the core and the adjacent side wall 2l of the housing at a point immediately ahead of the associated door 3|. It desired, supplementary partitions 39, respectively coplanar with the partitions 38, may be provided within the core between it and the body of the motor 25 to aid in preventing the escape of too large a proportion of air through the openings in the front wall of the casing.

The heater described is installed with its rear wall I8 disposed adjacentthe dash of the automobile and with the supply and discharge Pipes il and Il extending through the dash.` The fans 21 and I8, when the motor 2l is operating. draw air into the housing through the grill, 2l and force it radially through the core. The disposi-4 tion of the heated air forced through the core will depend upon the adjustment of the doors Il and I3, each of which can be independently adjusted to control the amount and direction of the air emitted through its associated opening. Because of the presence of the partitions II and I9, substantially al1 the air discharged radially between those partitions and the rear wall i! of the casing must nd its way out of the casing either past the doors 3l or through the nipples I6. If the doors Il are fully open, the bulk of such air will be discharged through them, although some air will also pass through the nipples 38 and any conduits connected thereto. By closing the doors 3|, however, all the air forced through the core between the partitions Il-39 and the rear wall i8 of the casing will be forced to emerge through the nipples IB into the conduits leading to the windshield defroster.

Because of the augmented length which results from the semicircular form of the tubes l0, the number of such tubes can be materially less than is the case in a heater of the conventional straight-tube type. As a result, our heater may be made relatively thin vertically so that when mounted near the top of the dash it is not in the way of the feet of the occupants of the front seat.

In the modification of ou: invention illustrated in Fig. 4, the arrangement of casing, core. and doors is substantially the same as in the arrangement illustrated in Figs 1 to 3; but instead of employing two fans as the air-impelling means a rotary turbine-type blower 45 is used. the motor 25 being mounted near the top of the casing rather than near the vertical center thereof. The top and bottom walls of the casing are provided with air-inlet openings through which air is drawn into the interior of the blower rotor, and the blower then forces such air outwardly through the air passages in the core.

We claim as our invention:

1. An automobile body heater of the circulating fluid type, comprising a generally semicircular core having generally radial air passages, an electric motor mounted within said core with its shaft perpendicular to the plane of the core, fans mounted on opposite ends of the motor shaft and arranged to blow air toward each other, an enclosing casing for said core, motor, and fans, said casing being provided in its opposite faces with air inlet openings respectively adjacent said fans, said casing being provided in its side walls with air-discharge openings, and

aiixustable closures associated with said open- 2. An automobile body heater of the circulating fluid type, comprising a casing, a motor disposed in said casing with its shaft vertical, a core at least partially surrounding said motor and having generally radial air passages, said casing having in at least one of its top and bottom walls an air-inlet opening, air impelllng means driven by said motor for drawing air inwardly through said inlet opening and forcing it outwardly through said core,vsaid casing having a horizontally curved side wall spaced outwardly from said core, radial partitions extending from said core to said side wall and dividing the space between said core and side wall into a plurality of compartments, said casing being provided with at least one discharge opening for each of said compartments, and adjustable closures associated with each of said discharge openings.

3. An automobile body heater of the circulating fluid type, comprising a casing having top and bottom walls, a rear wall adapted to be secured adjacent the dash of an automobile, and a horizontally curved wall extending between said top and bottom Walls at the sides and across the front of the casing, said casing being provided with air-inlet and air-outlet openings, said airoutlet openings being distributed along said hori zontally curved wall and being directed in different directions, adjustable closures for said airdscharge openings, an air-heating core within said casing, said core comprising a plurality of generally sernlcircular tubes disposed with their ends adjacent said rear wall, headers interconnecting corresponding ends of said tubes, inlet and discharge fittings connected respectively to said headers and extendng through said rear wall near opposite ends thereof, and means within said casing for advancing air through said core and discharging it through said air-outlet openings.

4. The invention set forth in claim 2 with the addition of a defroster conduit communicating with one of said compartments.

5. The invention set forth in claim 3 with the addition that said tubes are broad and thin with their greatest cross-sectional dimension in the plane of the tube, and fins disposed between said tubes and defining generally radial air passages.

EDMUND LUDLOW. EARL C. BOOTH. 

